Friday, January 31, 2020

The Glorious Revolution and British Industrialization Assignment - 1

The Glorious Revolution and British Industrialization - Assignment Example The judges’ salaries were paid by the King and so in disputes involving the crown and the wealth holders, the judiciary always favored the crown, thereby denying citizens their rights over their own property (North and Weingast, 1989, p.813). It was these restrictions on private property that eventually caused the decline of the crown and a political power rising over it in the form of the Parliament (North and Weingast, 1989, p.814). And this political power naturally promoted economy based on private property rights and markets, which became the major catalyst for the industrial revolution. After the Glorious Revolution, the right to impose taxes was exclusively vested with the Parliament (North and Weingast, 1989, p.816). The revenue eliciting devices of the King were reduced almost to nil, the crown was made to approach the Parliament for revenues, Parliament was given the right to audit the government, and the Parliament also came to command veto power over government expenditures (North and Weingast, 1989, p.816). It is also observed the hat this kind of institutional reforms gave higher control for wealth holders on the decisions of the government (North and Weingast, 1989, p.817). More economic freedom became incorporated into the laws (North and Weingast, 1989, p.818). Another positive step for better economic freedom was the establishment of an independent judiciary, not controlled by political forces and which enforced these new laws of economic freedom (North and Weingast, 1989, p.819). There was correspondingly an effort to regularize the structure of public finance (North and Weingast, 1989, p.820). Yet another important development was the emergence of the banking system (North and Weingast, 1989, p.825).

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Unwinding the Spool of Civilization in Pontings The Green History of the World and Quinns Ishmael :: Green History of the World Essays

Unwinding the Spool of Civilization in Ponting's The Green History of the World and Quinn's Ishmael  Ã‚   Clive Ponting's The Green History of the World and Daniel Quinn's Ishmael both critique the dominant paradigms of modern human civilization-especially where its relationship with environment is concerned. Both feel strongly that we are in trouble. Neither are quite willing to make final connections and present us with a systematic method for getting out of our impending ecological crisis, but they both do spell out what has been wrong, what is wrong now, and what will happen should we choose not to take evasive action. In the absence of similar works "in the canon" it is hard not to feel as though, (as the character Ishmael promised), if you accept their premises you are doomed to isolation for, those who see the future most clearly are usually outcasts, lost as to what power they may have to change minds and directions. Enlightenment almost always comes at a price, often steep. In the interest of exploring the necessity of dissent, let's follow that line of environmental thought a little further. Ponting presents us with the scientific/cultural evidence that backs up what Quinn is saying: that we as a species are destroying our foundations even as we proclaim our creation-Civilization-a success. If this massive breakdown and foreboding future are certainties, then we must ask-as Quinn does-who or what is telling us lies to make us believe otherwise? His character Ishmael calls it "Mother Culture" and insists that its pervasive voice acts to keep us on course even when large portions of the population have every reason to lose hope in Her tenets. This all-powerful entity would, presumably, include most educational establishments and media outlets, and so information to the contrary would rarely be funded or reported, and probably never directly emphasized. Which leaves us with a challenge: using Thomas Kuhn's model for change in the social sciences, we must endeavor to see if the Ponting/Quinn paradigm for all civilization is merely a shift in attitude or-as would be difficult for Kuhn to imagine-an entirely new realization that carries with it remedies for the penalties it warns of. If this is a shift back in paradigm, to hunter-gatherer or Noble Savage imagery, then the potential for civil disruption is great. With the stakes of annihilation as high as they are presented, such a shift could justify sweeping political/economic reform that-in the absence of the believed-in reality-would only place more of the Earth's population in positions of subsistence and subservience.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Victory speech

Good evening America†¦. I stand here before you, overwhelmed by the final verdict of our unique nation. I, Paris Hilton am the first female candidate to have won the position of Presidency in this great country of ours. I have achieved the unthinkable! Once again, America has demonstrated her ability to be different. While, I know, the pressure I expect to face in the coming years will be a lot, I promise that I will deliver on the trust and faith all of you have reposed in me. The Democrats have always striven hard to win and I symbolize them and thank them for the support they have given me. The last President, Barack Obama, America's first African-American President, as some of us here know, has given me support throughout my campaign. I thank him for this†¦ My fellow Americans, I promise you that I will bring success but not without some hiccups. BE STRONG and TRUST me, for those who do not, in time I will hopefully prove to you that I am the right person to burden all these responsibilities on. I believe that a country should be run and managed just like we American women manage our houses – orderly, neat, clean and well planned. I want to make changes in our internal policies to ensure that this understanding of mine is effectively executed. The revenue department also should be run the way I run my household budgets – Americans, we must learn to spend only what we earn – this is the only answer to our deficit balance of payments problem. The White House has been standing for the last two centuries and for the first time in its history; I am going to use my redecoration budget on the out side rather than the inside. I plan to make a historical change. I have decided, as some of you know, that the White House is going to be painted pink. Many people will object but please do understand that this is necessary. It is befitting for a woman President to create the correct ambience for all the people who visit her. My father and mother tried to discourage me in the beginning but seeing my determination supported me through thick and thin. Thank you dad, thank you mom, I hope I don't let you down now. I promise I will behave this time. I would like to thank Michelle, my designer for the outstanding evening gowns that she created. The dresses went a long way in attracting big crowds. People were curious to see how I would look at every event. The media was fantastic in portraying my pictures in the best light. The swimsuits that I auctioned helped me get money for my campaign. I must also thank Diana, my hair stylist for her unstinting support. The new styles she created were ones that the public personally adored. Their hard work has paid off and helped me win this hard-fought campaign Throughout my campaign all 17 of my dogs travelled with me across this vast nation. There were many difficulties they faced but they did not falter even once. They ate what was given to them and never complained about lack of sleep or comfort. Without them, I could never have fought so long or so strong. This brings me to the pet licensing policy and one of the first things to address is that an American will be allowed to keep a maximum of twenty animals in the house, without a licence. Before I started campaigning I had acted in some movies and none of them were great hits. Therefore another policy that I have decided to make is that every movie I act in must run in every theatre tax-free everyday. This must continue for one month†¦ I will not endorse anybody driving under the influence of alcohol because after the experience of being in jail for drunken driving, I realise that it is no fun. Teenagers and adults – listen to your President – don't drink and drive. However, this experience has not gone in vain. I appreciate the problems prisoners face in jail. The inmate's orange clothing is poorly designed. It made me look fat and clashed horribly with my hair. I hope during my term as President, I can address some of these issues. I propose to invite some of the world's top designers to suggest new designs for the inmate's clothing. A lot of people wondered why a successful fashion socialite and struggling singer like myself should run for the office of the nation's President. I would like to take this opportunity to explain one of the most important reasons for this decision. Most of you know that I have grown up in the lap of luxury and have never had to work for a living. However, some months ago, my grandfather decided to pledge his wealth to charity. My Porsche, BMW and Mercedes were repossessed. I was even evicted from my Fifth Avenue apartment in New York. This is why I had to stand for elections – to earn the salary that the President is paid with free accommodation and transportation thrown in. Come, my countrymen and join me to create a new page in history. Let us all work together in harmony to create a more fashionable and enjoyable TOMORROW. And for tonight†¦. LET†S PARTY!!

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Judy Chicago, Feminist Artist and Art Collaborator

Judy Chicago is known for her  feminist art installations, including The Dinner Party: A Symbol of Our Heritage,  The Birth Project,  and  Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light. Also known for feminist art critique and education. She was born on July 20, 1939.   Early Years Born Judy Sylvia Cohen in the city of Chicago, her father was a union organizer and her mother a medical secretary.   She earned her B.A. in 1962 and M.A. in 1964 at the University of California. Her first marriage in 1961 was to Jerry Gerowitz, who died in 1965.   Art Career She was part of a modernist and minimalist trend in the art movement.   She began to be more political and especially feminist in her work. In 1969, she began an art class for women at Fresno State. That same year, she formally changed her name to Chicago, leaving behind her birth name and her first married name.In 1970, she married Lloyd Hamrol. She moved over the next year to the California Institute of Arts where she worked to begin a Feminist Art Program.   This project was the source of Womanhouse, an art installation that transformed a fixer-upper house into a feminist message. She worked with  Miriam Schapiro  on this project.  Womanhouse combined the efforts of female artists learning traditionally male skills to renovate the house, and then using traditionally female skills in the art and participating in feminist consciousness-raising. The Dinner Party Remembering the words of a history professor at UCLA that women were not influences in European intellectual history, she began working on a major art project to remember women’s achievements. The Dinner Party, which took from 1974 to 1979 to complete, honored hundreds of women through history. The main part of the project was a triangular dinner table with 39 place settings each representing a female figure from history. Another 999 women have their names written on the floor of the installation on porcelain tiles. Using ceramics, embroidery, quilting, and weaving, she deliberately chose media often identified with women and treated as less than art.   She used many artists to actualize the work. The Dinner Party was exhibited in 1979, then toured and was seen by 15 million. The work challenged many who saw it to continue to learn about the unfamiliar names they encountered in the art work. While working on the installation, she published her autobiography in 1975.   She divorced in 1979. The Birth Project Judy Chicago’s next major project centered around images of women giving birth, honoring pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering.   She engaged 150 women artists creating panels for the installation, again using traditional women’s crafting, especially embroidery, with weaving, crochet, needlepoint, and other methods.   By picking both a woman-centered topic, and women’s traditional crafts, and using a cooperative model for creating the work, she embodied feminism in the project. The Holocaust Project Again working in a democratic manner, organizing and overseeing the work but decentralizing the tasks, she began work in 1984 on another installation, this one to focus on the experience of the Jewish Holocaust from the perspective of her experience as a woman and Jew. She traveled extensively in the Middle East and Europe to research for the work and to record her personal reactions to what she found.   The â€Å"incredibly dark† project took her eight years. She married photographer Donald Woodman in 1985. She published Beyond the Flower, a second part to her own life story. Later Work In 1994, she began another decentralized project. Resolutions for the Millennium joined oil painting and needlework.   The work celebrated seven values: Family, Responsibility, Conservation, Tolerance, Human Rights, Hope, and Change. In 1999, she began teaching again, moving each semester to a new setting. She wrote another book, this with Lucie-Smith, on the images of women in art. The Dinner Party was in storage from the early 1980s, except for one display in 1996.   In 1990, the University of the District of Columbia developed plans to install the work there, and Judy Chicago donated the work to the university. But newspaper articles about the sexual explicitness of the art led the trustees to cancel the installation. In 2007 The Dinner Party was permanently installed at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Books by Judy Chicago Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist,  (autobiography), introduction by Anais Nin, 1975, 1982, 1993.  The Dinner Party: A Symbol of Our Heritage,   1979,  The Dinner Party: Restoring Women to History, 2014.Embroidering Our Heritage: The Dinner Party Needlework,  1980.The Complete Dinner Party: The Dinner Party and Embroidering Our Heritage,1981.The Birth Project,  1985.Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light,  1993.Beyond the Flower: The Autobiography of a Feminist Artist,  1996.(With Edward Lucie-Smith)  Women and Art: Contested Territory,   1999.Fragments from the Delta of Venus,  2004.Kitty City: A Feline Book of Hours,   2005.(With Frances Borzello)  Frida Kahlo: Face to Face,   2010.Institutional Time: A Critique of Studio Art Education,   2014. Selected Judy Chicago Quotations †¢ Because we are denied knowledge of our history, we are deprived of standing upon each others shoulders and building upon each others hard earned accomplishments. Instead we are condemned to repeat what others have done before us and thus we continually reinvent the wheel. The goal of The Dinner Party is to break this cycle. †¢ I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling, that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized world. I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism. †¢Ã‚  About The Birth Project:  These values were oppositional in that they challenged many prevailing ideas as to what art was to be about (female rather than male experience), how it was to be made (in an empowering, co-operative method rather than a competitive, individualistic mode) and what materials were to be employed in creating it (any that seemed appropriate, irrespective of what socially constructed gender associations a particular media might be perceived to have). †¢Ã‚  About The Holocaust Project:  A lot of survivors committed suicide. Then you must make a choice--are you going to succumb to the darkness or choose life? Its a Jewish mandate to choose life. †¢ You shouldnt have to justify your work. †¢ I began to wonder about the ethical distinction between processing pigs and doing the same thing to people defined as pigs. Many would argue that moral considerations do not have to be extended to animals, but this is just what the Nazis said about the Jews. †¢Ã‚  Andrea Neal, editorial writer (October 14, 1999):  Judy Chicago is obviously more exhibitionist than artist. And that raises a question: is this what a great public university should support?